Disney Is Sitting On One Of The Best Reboots, And We’re Tired Of Waiting For It
You may not know this, but Rick Moranis is ready to return to acting in the form of a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids franchise reboot. The film, aptly titled Shrunk, even has a screenplay based on a story written by Josh Gad, who would also star in the film as Nick Szalinski, the middle son of Rick Moranis’ Wayne Szalinski. The unfortunate reality that we have to face is that the Disney project has been in development hell since 2018, and according to Gad, has been put on hold indefinitely.
Out Of Retirement And Onto The Big Screen
At the height of his Hollywood career, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids star Rick Moranis quietly retired for noble reasons. After the tragic passing of his wife in 1991, he learned in the following years that he couldn’t commit to being both a full-time actor and a single father. Choosing his family over the limelight, Moranis decided it was best to be more selective when it came to taking on acting roles before dipping out entirely, with the exception of some sparsely placed voice-acting roles across the following decade.
With his last live-action role being 1997’s Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, it’s only fitting that Moranis plans to return to the big screen by reprising his role as Wayne Szalinski, the lovable goofball genius mad scientist who has had his fair share of familial mishaps involving a shrink ray.
The Disney Reboot We’re All Waiting For
Though we miss seeing Rick Moranis on the big screen (he would have been great in the Ghostbusters reboots), we can’t really blame him for retiring from acting, but now that he’s willing to come out of retirement since his kids have grown up, there’s another reason Shrunk hasn’t gone into active production: Disney.
Back in 2018, there were hints at a possible sequel/reboot based on a story written by Josh Gad, Ryan Dixon, Ian Helfer, and Jay Reiss, which was then adapted into a screenplay by Todd Rosenberg (All My Life).
By 2020, Moranis officially signed onto the project, and Joe Johnston was confirmed as the reboot’s director. But then the world stopped thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the industry restrictions that would follow in its wake put a damper on things. In the following years, the project failed to launch due to scheduling issues on Gad’s part, as well as budgetary concerns on Disney’s part, according to Gad.
What We Know About Shrunk
Not much is known about the plot to Shrunk, but what we do know is that it will take place years after the events that took place in the franchise’s last installment, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves. Gad would star alongside Moranis, and play his grown-up son who wants to follow in his father’s footsteps. If the reboot maintains the same quirky spirit that we know and love, it sounds like Gad’s Nick Szalinski will be just as brilliant, absent-minded, and eccentric as his father, causing him to accidentally shrink his kids in a similar fashion to the original film, but with a whole new set of conflicts and adventures in a more modern setting.
With Moranis set to come back and reprise his role as Wayne Szalinski, it’s reasonable to expect some father/son bonding in the form of trying to reverse the shrink-ray and restore Nick’s children back to their normal sizes.
Classic Premise In A Modern Setting
There’s no denying the legacy that the original Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movie and its subsequent sequels, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid and Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves left behind, and it’s an absolute shame that the reboot for the intellectual property that we loved so much growing up has had its production grinded to a halt.
From the amazing set designs to the giant Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie that dwarfed its primary protagonist’s stature in the original film, there are so many new ideas that can be riffed on in a modern context. Now that children’s toys have gotten more advanced, I’d personally love to see some drone-play in the reboot as Nick’s kids get whipped around the back yard at breakneck speeds while trying to chase a squirrel.
But for the time being, we’ll have to keep waiting because it doesn’t seem like we’ll be seeing Shrunk in theaters or on streaming any time soon.
For Now, We Wait
The most recent Shrunk update from Gad came in the form of an X post on June 26, 2023 stating that he still wants to work on the project but it has been plagued with setbacks and conflicts, preventing production from getting the green-light. In his post, he encouraged fans to let Disney know that they want to see this project come to fruition so they can move forward with the reboot. By the sounds of it, Gad’s hands are tied, and everybody involved is ready to hit the ground running as soon as they get the opportunity to do so.
